Aggielife
The Battalion
Page 3 • Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Entrepreneurs on campus
ournalism not dead: students learn more outside the classroom, start magazine
By Kim Katopodis
THE BATTALION
A s Dallas Shipp looked at his calendar last
December, he saw that graduation was less
than two weeks away, and he was still without
I job. Four months later, he is starting a new magazine on
I e Texas A&M campus.
^ I Shipp, Class of 2002, and roommate True Brown, an
■ 1 iriciiltural journalism major graduating in May, had
;I)° u t two weeks to conceive, plan and sell their idea of a
•. |:rsion of 12th Man Magazine for students to the 12th
J 1 ! an Foundation. The idea for 12th Man Magazine On
^‘lampus came to Shipp and Brown through a series of
J mversations last semester about their futures.
“One of the recurring things we would talk about was:
I )uknow, we're about to be out of college, without a job.
i^fhat are we going to do?” Brown said.
A night of brainstorming on instant messenger
lit Oil
old
clanged their conversations from what job they could get
tc how they could be their own bosses.
“We were trying to actually come up with an idea of
mething we could sell,” Shipp said. “Then I started
inking, well, the 12th Man (Foundation) has been want-
g to get their magazine out to students and right at that
Ine, Sports Illustrated had just started their student-driv-
ffiimagazine and I said, ‘True, why don’t we try to see if
^ | e can start a new magazine up through the 12th Man?’”
Shipp, who had interned at The 12th Man Foundation,
itially approached Homer Jacobs, the editor of 12th
lari Magazine, who was, like Shipp and Brown, a former
attalion sports editor.
“It’s really almost groundbreaking,” Jacobs said. “ 12th
an Magazine is a rare magazine. There are very few like
that are ... funded by an alumni association of that qual-
.Sofor a student slick glossy magazine, it would be the
rstofits kind.”
Shipp and Brown are responsible for advertising
ales, writing, editing and laying out 12th Man
lagazine On Campus.
“There is no aspect of this magazine not taken care of
ylrue or myself,” Shipp said.
Life for the two roommates hasn't been the same
nee. Brown, who is finishing his undergraduate work
lis semester, has been juggling his courses with a full-
me job and project’s continuation that depends on
Irownand Shipp's first year performance.
“/don’t know many friends of mine that at an entry-
level position have as much responsibility as me and True
have,” Shipp said.
Brown says he is lucky to have his advisor working
with him so he can balance classes and work.
“I have it set up where I only have ten hours right
now," Brown said. “If I had more than that I don’t know
if it would be do-able. I am getting credit for working
here. My advisor saved my butt on that one.”
Shipp and Brown are the only two employees of the
magazine, 12th Man On Campus, for at least its first year
of publication. The 16- to 20-page magazine will be pub
lished twice a month in the fall as an insert in The
Battalion. The extra hours of work are a good trade-off
for the freedom to be creative with the project, the two
editors said.
“It’s very cool because the 12th Man executives give
us the freedom to make decisions, and then we just dou-
See On Campus on page 4
The Foundation offers 12th Man On Campus
memberships for students. Money from these
memberships go directly to 12th Man On Campus
Some benefits of joining include:
• Access to advance ticket sales for bowl
games and select football games on the
road
• A free, members-only autograph party with
Coach Fran and other Aggie coaches
• Students joining for the entirety of their
undergraduate work get a free, three-year
membership after graduation
• A 12th Man On Campus window decal
• 12th Man On Campus member T-shirt
• A 12th Man towel with this year’s football
schedule
Randal Ford • THE BATTALION
True Brown (left), a senior agricultural journalism major, and Dallas Shipp, Class of 2002, started
their own magazine instead of finding a job after graduation.
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